Circus Twins
by Barbacar
Summary: Set in a Circus AU. Dipper and Mabel are twin performers of the Mystery Circus, where their great-uncle Stan is the ringmaster. During a performance, the act goes wrong, and the twins end up in a strange place. They set off to find their way home.
1. Chapter 1

The travelling circus had quite a few different names. The Mystery Circus, the Carnival of Curiosity, the Terror Tent, among others. It traveled all over Oregon, and sometimes in the surrounding states.

The ringmaster was an old man by the name of Stan Pines. Most people thought he was rather shady, but they generally found the acts entertaining enough to ignore that. He also ran the sideshow, showcasing various "mystical artifacts" and taxidermied "cryptids", all of which were varying levels of obviously fake, though the crowds didn't mind.

The circus's strongman was a young man named Soos Ramirez. Despite being more hefty than muscular, he was pretty strong, able to lift a heavy weight and twirl it on his finger. He was also very kind-hearted, always willing to help out.

A red-haired teenager named Wendy Corduroy performed as an axe juggler and thrower. Despite her young age, she was quite skilled at her act, and often remained nonchalant as she was doing it.

A few years ago, two new performers had joined. They were Dipper and Mabel Pines, Stan's grandnephew and grandniece. Due to the two being twins, Stan first suggested that the two wear a large shirt and pretend to be Siamese twins. But when Mabel spied the big, colourful cannon in storage, her eyes twinkled like stars and she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

The cannon hadn't seen much use beforehand, though Wendy used it every once in a while, and there wasn't really a designated human cannonball. Mabel had fit perfectly into the role, and quickly became a favorite among the crowd.

Dipper, on the other hand, wasn't much of an attention seeker, and preferred not to be one to attract too much focus from the crowd. So, he decided to be part of Mabel's act, being the one to light her cannon's fuse.

Not much training or practice was needed for Dipper's part of the act, so he had a lot of time to read, as well as investigate the various places they traveled to. He ended up discovering multiple supernatural oddities, including land squids, gnomes, walking trees, and a windmill that made entire pizzas. He tried telling Stan about some of these, but he never seemed to believe him.

Dipper was now twelve, and his most recent discovery was a sparkling purple substance that he had been finding on the petals of flowers. He presumed that it was pixie dust, but he decided to take it back to the tent to study it a bit more. He collected a fair bit of it in a bag before heading back to the circus, where he absentmindedly set it down by a pile of other bags.

The next night, the circus put on another show. As Ringmaster Stan introduced the crowd to the first act, Dipper headed backstage to look for Mabel. He soon found her standing right next to her cannon, hastily wolfing down a funnel cake covered in cotton candy, apple crumble, and soft-serve ice cream.

She was wearing her human cannonball outfit, one she designed herself. It consisted of a glittery white suit with pink stripes that looked like a combination of a jumpsuit and a dress. Another piece of the outfit was a sparkly pink cape with a picture of a shooting star that she wore on her back. There was also a white and pink striped helmet on her head, with a glass visor. There was a spike at the top and a large curved horn on both sides, making the helmet somewhat resemble that of a viking. Her curly brown hair was more than long enough to stick out from underneath her helmet, and since joining the circus she had been growing it out, to the point where it now reached her ankles.

She turned to Dipper as he approached. "Oh, hey Dipper." she said between bites. "What's up?" she asked, sounding a little jittery and nervous.

"Our act's coming up pretty soon." said Dipper. "Uh, are you okay?"

"Of course I am!" said Mabel, pausing to take another bite. "It's just that I kinda eat when I'm nervous, and what's more nerve-racking than being shot out of a cannon? So I made this dessert out of a buncha circus food."

Dipper said "I mean, I can definitely get how being shot out of a cannon would make you nervous, it's stressful enough for me to be the one to fire you out, but you do it all the time. Aren't you kinda used to it by now?"

"Yeah, I do it all the time, and yeah, it's awesome." said Mabel, wiping her mouth. "But sometimes I think too much about it, and how I'm literally being _fired_ out of a _cannon_ , and what if something goes wrong and I get blasted into space, or blown to bits, and what if something bad also happens to you later on and I can't help you 'cause I'm in outer space?"

Mabel set down her dessert and abruptly gave Dipper a hug, saying "Bro-bro, if I get blasted off into outer space tonight, I just want you to know that everything's gonna be okay, and I'll be watching over you from the cosmos as you starry sister, and-"

"Mabel, are you feeling okay?" asked Dipper confusedly.

Mabel took a deep breath and said "Yeah. Sorry, I kinda mixed all the drinks from the soda fountain together and drank 'em. Again."

The twins spent the next few moments preparing for Mabel's act. Dipper tried to stay calm, though some of the things Mabel had said had started to put nervous thoughts in his own head. He almost always felt nervous during the act, considering he had to fire his sister out of a cannon in front of a large crowd, but it usually seemed to go well, and Mabel generally didn't get hurt worse than being covered in soot and maybe a bruise on her leg.

A short while had past before the twins heard Stan's voice from the center of the tent.

"Alright, I know that last axe got pretty close to that lady's head, but I'd just like you all to know that she'll get a free cotton candy on the way out if she promises not to sue us! Now give it up for our grand finale, Mabel, the human shooting star!" called Stan.

Soon after, Wendy walked backstage, carrying multiple axes of various sizes. "You two are up." she said as she walked past the twins.

Dipper said "Oh, I almost forgot to load in the gunpowder."

"Eh, it's fine. I already loaded it in myself." said Mabel. She quickly finished her dessert and climbed up into the cannon, taking a seat on the inner edge of the barrel. "I bet that new sparkly gunpowder's gonna be amazing."

Dipper took a deep breath as he looked up at his sister. "You sure you still want to do this?" he asked nervously.

"I sure do." said Mabel with a bright, braced smile. She pointed forward triumphantly and shouted "Onwards!"

Dipper nodded and pushed the cannon forwards for the show's grand finale.


	2. Chapter 2

Dipper slowly pushed the sparkly circus cannon out from backstage as Mabel sat on the edge of the cannon's barrel, humming to herself and swinging her legs back and forth. The cannon's lengthy fuse dragged along the ground behind them, Mabel specifically requesting the fuse be so long to savor the buildup. Along the way, he passed by a barrel full of sticks with flammable tips, and picked one of them up. It was sort of like a combination of a match and a torch, and they were specifically for lighting the cannon. Putting the stick in his pocket, he continued pushing the cannon to where the audience was waiting.

As the twins entered the view of the crowd, cheering sounded from the stands. Mabel flashed a toothy grin as she waved to the crowd. Though this was far from their first performance, Dipper still felt nervous about being in front of such a large crowd, even if most of the attention was on Mabel.

He pushed the large cannon to its usual place on one end of the circus tent, and looked over to see Ringmaster Stan overseeing the net being set up on the other end.

Stan then turned to the crowd and said "Alright everybody, let's all clap for our little daredevil over here!"

Stan walked off backstage as the crowd gave a round of applause to Mabel, who gave another brace-filled smile. "Good evening, everybody. You know, even though I'm the one about to be shot out of a giant explosive war machine, I think you're all the _real_ brave ones for standing in the path of fire. And speaking of bravery, I think you should give some applause to my brother, who's got the guts to fire his sister to her potential doom time and time again!"

Dipper let out a nervous chuckle as the crowd gave him some moderate applause.

Mabel took a few deep breaths before cheerfully exclaiming "Alright, here I go!"

Mabel tucked herself into a ball and rolled down into the cannon's barrel. Dipper adjusted the cannon's aim, making sure it was at just the right angle. He pulled the flammable stick out of his pocket and struck the tip against the base of the cannon. The tip of the stick ignited in a bright flame, prompting some oohs and ahhs from the crowd.

Dipper paused to take some breaths and calm the anxious feeling in his chest. He then knocked on the side of the cannon and asked "You ready in there, sis?"

"Ready! Now light me up!" echoed Mabel's voice from inside the cannon.

Dipper slowly brought the lit tip of the stick to the tip of the long fuse, sparking it up. As the sparkling end of the fuse slowly but surely burned its way towards the cannon, a drum roll could be heard in the distance. Dipper blew out the burning stick before tossing it aside, looking at the crowd watching in anticipation. He hoped that Mabel had put in the right amount of gunpowder, since she seemed like the type to get carried away with it. He also briefly wondered about the sparkly gunpowder she had mentioned earlier, since he didn't remember seeing any of that lying around, unless Mabel had mistaken something else for it.

His eyes widened with simultaneous realization, shock, and dread. He quickly climbed onto the cannon and sprinted along the raised barrel. When he got to the edge, he leaned inside and yelled "Mabel! You-"

Dipper lost his footing, causing him to fall into the cannon and tumble down the inside, smacking into Mabel.

"Uh, Dipper?" said Mabel. "I didn't know you wanted to get a closer look at my act. I mean, I'm flattered, but I don't think this is-"

"We don't have time to talk, we gotta get out of here!" exclaimed Dipper. He struggled to get out, but the cannon was too cramped for both of them, and they seemed to be stuck.

"Wait, why do _I_ need to get out?" asked Mabel.

"Because of that sparkly powder you put in." said Dipper shakily. "I'd found it in the woods, and I think it's pixie dust. Who knows what'll happen when it goes off?"

"Oh. Oh boy." said Mabel nervously.

The sounds of the fuse sizzling were growing steadily closer. Dipper almost wished the cannon would just fire and get it over with.

"Uh, how much of it did you add, exactly?" asked Dipper.

"Um... all of it?" said Mabel sheepishly. She sighed and said "I'm sorry."

The two tried to get out of the mighty cannon, but it was no use. They were stuck in there.

"Come on, we gotta get out now!" cried Dipper, listening to the drum roll still sounding in the distance. His heart was pounding in his chest.

"Uh, Dipper?" said Mabel, gulping. "I think there's only one way we're gonna get out of this, and it... uh, involves a really loud boom."

Dipper looked around the cramped space in a panic, starting to hyperventilate. "Oh no, oh no, oh _no_ , oh-"

"Hey, bro." said Mabel, placing a hand on Dipper's shoulder. She seemed to be an odd combination of brave and terrified. "It's gonna be okay. I've done this a whole bunch of times before, and even if the blast is gonna be different than normal, I'm gonna make sure nothing bad happens to you. You're gonna be okay, promise."

Dipper managed to steady his breathing somewhat as he nodded. He and Mabel embraced in the closet thing they could get to a hug, and Dipper could feel that his sister's heart was also beating rapidly, though not as quickly as his own. As he heard the fuse burn to its last moments, Dipper saw the bottom of the cannon glow faintly purple and shut his eyes as tightly as he could.

 ** _BOOOOOOM!_**


	3. Chapter 3

The entire circus tent shook as the cannon fired in a mighty kaboom, blanketing the area in a cloud of glittering purple smoke. Dipper and Mabel held onto each other for dear life as they were shot out of the colorful cannon at blinding speeds, leaving a dark violet streak behind them. They tore a hole through the tent as they shot off over the far horizon, vanishing from the crowd's view with a bright purple twinkle in the sky as their screams faded into the night.

The twins were still holding on to each other like their lives depended on it as they rocketed far above the treetops like a comet.

"This is the most amazing thing ever!" yelled Mabel once she and Dipper had stopped screaming. "Also, I think I'm having a heart attack!"

"Same here on that second part!" shouted Dipper, who was trying to keep his eyes shut, but he kept opening them for a split second and seeing that they were soaring far above the trees, and it seemed like they hadn't even started to arc downwards yet.

"Well, on the bright side, we lived through the blast, though it did kinda hurt more than usual!" shouted Mabel. "Now we just gotta work on the landing! I'll handle it!"

Dipper kept his eyes shut. A few seconds later, Dipper could feel that their trajectory was starting to curve downwards. Suddenly, he could no longer feel Mabel holding onto him, and he started falling faster. Soon, he landed somewhere wet with a splash.

Opening his eyes, he saw that he had landed in a body of water in the middle of the vast forest. Sure, landing in the water wasn't comfortable, and it was pretty chilly at night time, but Dipper supposed that it was better than landing on one of the nearby jagged rocks. He had just started to wonder where Mabel had landed when he heard a loud thunk a few dozen yards in front of him.

Running forwards, he soon found Mabel. She was currently sideways, due to the horns of her helmet getting stuck in the trunk of a tree. She had definitely taken the brunt of the cannon fire, as she was covered from head to toe in soot and singe marks, while Dipper only had a couple.

"Oh, hey Dipper." she said nonchalantly. "Have a nice flight?"

Dipper laughed nervously and said "Well, my life kinda flashed before my eyes quite a bit there."

"Eh, that's normal." said Mabel, prying herself from the tree, which had a large crack in it from the impact. She managed to free herself, though her helmet was still lodged in the bark.

Dipper took some deep breaths and waited for his heart to stop rapidly thumping as Mabel tried to pry her helmet out of the tree bark.

"Thanks for giving me a soft landing. Well, softer than it could've been, at least." said Dipper.

"No problem." said Mabel. She managed to pull her helmet out of the bark, cracking the tree even more. "And I'd like to thank Mr. Tree over here for giving me a landing target better than a rock." She said, giving the tree a pat.

Apparently, the tree had already taken too much damage, as that small pat was enough to crack it apart and send it crashing down.

"Whoops. Heh heh, sorry about that, Mr. Tree." said Mabel sheepishly. She gave the stump a pat and solemnly said "You're in a better place now."

Dipper wringed some of the water out of his clothes as he said "Alright, we're alive, which is better than I was expecting. Are you alright?"

Mabel put her helmet back on her head as she walked over to Dipper. "I'm fine." she said. "I mean, I'm in a lotta pain, but I'm fine."

"Me too." said Dipper. "Okay, so now that's out of the way, on to the next problem. Where are we?"

"Hmm." said Mabel, looking around. "I guess we got blown pretty far from the circus. We're probably at least a couple miles away from it." She laughed nervously and said "Guess that pixie dust was some pretty powerful stuff."

Dipper sighed and said "Alright. We're gonna need to be quick if we want to get back to the circus, 'cause it's already late out. Any ideas for how to get there fast?"

Mabel brushed some dirt out of her long brown hair and said "Well, if we could find _another_ cann-"

"Guess we'll be walking." said Dipper.

The twins set off through the forest in the direction they had flown from. The forest was both calming and eerie during that time of night. Mabel hummed cheerfully as they made their way through the trees while Dipper looked behind them every once in a while to make sure they weren't being followed.

"So." said Mabel. "What did you think of the act?"

"Terrifying." said Dipper. "My ears are still ringing."

"Pfft, ears ringing is just a normal part of life." said Mabel.

There was a pause before Dipper said "Uh, Mabel, do your ears ring like, _all_ the time?"

Mabel smiled and said "Yep!"

There was another pause before Dipper said "I'm starting to think your act isn't the healthiest choice of profession."

"Eh." said Mabel with a shrug.

Soon, the two came across a flowing blue river. Dipper knelt down to take a closer look at it. "Something about this water seems off. It seems a bit... fizzier than most water."

The water in the river was indeed fizzy and bubbly. Mabel reached down to taste it, and her eyes lit up.

"It's not water." said Mabel. "It's _soda!_ Blue raspberry soda!"

Mabel quickly took her helmet off and dunked it into the river, filling it with soda. She then lifted the helmet full of pop above her head and happily poured it out into her mouth.

"Mabel, I don't think you should be drinking that." said Dipper. "For all we know, it could turn you into a weird sugar fairy, or curse you to work in the sugar mines for all eternity, or dissolve your body into soda and mix you into-"

"Relax, Dip," said Mabel, who finished drinking from her helmet and put it back onto her head. "It's just soda. In a forest. Forest soda."

She sniffed and said "Ooh, let's follow the river. Something smells really good upstream!"

Mabel happily headed up the stream, and Dipper followed behind her, figuring that they were at least heading in the general direction of the circus. As they followed the soda river, the air seemed to smell more and more of freshly baked cookies, the trees began to resemble giant chocolate bars, and some of the nearby animals seemed to be giant living cookies. The twins soon came across a clearing. A large, multi-storied gingerbread house, decorated with all kinds of candy, sat on a hill made of brownie.

"Wow!" cried Mabel. "That looks amazing. And delicious! Let's go check it out!"

"Sorry, but we don't have time." said Dipper, heading for the other end of the clearing.

"Come on Dipper, aren't you interested in this kinda stuff? Don't you wanna find out how this gingerbread house thing works, and how it got here?"

Dipper thought about it for a moment. He supposed that it might be interesting to check the place out, and it could serve as a place to spend the night if they really needed to. Plus, he wasn't sure if he would be able to find it again after they got back home.

"Alright, I guess we can take a look around." said Dipper.

Mabel flashed a wide grin and giggled with glee.

"Okay, you investigate, while I explore." said Mabel, as they headed towards the house. "That way, we'll get it done faster!"


	4. Chapter 4

Dipper and Mabel made their way to the front door of the large gingerbread house. Mabel knocked on the door. There was no answer.

"Hmm." said Mabel. "Well, Dipper, it looks like you're gonna have to toss me through the window."

"Uh, why?" asked Dipper.

"Because I'm a human cannonball. I'm a trained projectile." said Mabel, striking a pose.

"I guess I meant, why do we need to go in through the window?" asked Dipper.

"Well, nobody's coming to the door, and if we wanna break it, we gotta do it with style!" said Mabel.

Dipper rolled his eyes and opened the front door, walking inside.

"Ah, you're no fun." said Mabel, following her brother into the gingerbread house.

Like the exterior, everything in the house was made gingerbread, chocolate, or various other sweets. There were tables made of peanut brittle, windows made of lollipop material, and the sofa seemed to be a giant cheesecake.

"Hmm." said Dipper, investigating a hat rack made of peppermint. "I wonder, why would somebody want to build a house out of candy this far out in the wilderness, and why would they do it?"

"To have something you could both live in and eat, of course." said Mabel.

Dipper said "You know, something about this seems... familiar."

Dipper then started nervously looking around. "Uh, Mabel, could you check if there's a stove in the kitchen?"

Mabel walked into one of the rooms. "Yeah, but it's made of peppermint. I don't think it'll even turn on."

Dipper breathed a small sigh of relief. "Alright, well if you hear any cackling from outside, keep running and don't stop, alright?"

Mabel walked back into the front hall and nodded. "Can do!'

The two searched the gingerbread house for a while longer. Dipper found things such as a sink with running chocolate and strawberry milk, a bathtub filled with lemonade, a staircase made of peanut brittle, and a curtain made out of licorice. Her periodically took notes on what he saw in an old notepad he kept in his pocket.

Meanwhile, Mabel was apparently still hungry, as she periodically took a bite out of nearby candy furniture.

Eventually, the twins had explored every room in the house except for what appeared to be the master bedroom. The king-sized bed was made of pie, a painting made out of hard candy hung on the wall, and there was a bedside bookshelf. Dipper curious picked up one of the books, which was of course also made of candy, and read through it.

"Dear diary." he read aloud from the book. "Rough work at the sugar mines today. Mr Kuchen's really been hassling me these past few days. Rumor has it that the Golem Mafia's really breathing down his neck. Anyway, the ants kept trying to nibble me on my way home from work, as usual, and I found out that I'm out of cookie cats."

Dipper skimmed a few more pages and remarked "Huh. Whoever lives here is both depressing and confusing."

Mabel took a big bite out of the bed and said "They do have good taste in decor, though!"

Mabel looked through the hole she bit in the bed and said "Hey, I think I see something!" Reaching into the hole, she pulled out a small chest made out of dark chocolate.

She passed it to Dipper, who looked it over and said "I wonder what could be in here that the owner needed to hide it under their... pie... mattress. It looks like this requires some kinda key. Maybe we'll be able to make one out of-"

Mabel promptly took a bite out of the chocolate chest Dipper was holding, leaving a large hole in it.

"Well, I guess this way is faster." said Dipper. Mabel giggled as Dipper reached into the hole in the chest and pulled out a handful of what appeared to be candy-coated pebbles.

"Ooh, those must be pop-rocks!" said Mabel, grabbing them from Dipper. "I bet these must be extra-delicious, since they were hidden and all."

Right about then, the sound of the front door opening could be faintly heard, causing Dipper and Mabel to simultaneously say "Uh-oh."

The two hid in the bedroom's closet as footsteps could be heard in the distance.

"Ahh! Somebody's been taking bites out of my things!" yelled a voice from downstairs. Dipper glared at Mabel, who grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, when I find out who's been biting my possessions, I'm gonna give them such a walloping!"

Dipper and Mabel continued hiding in the closet as the footsteps, which were rather strange sounding, grew closer.

"Any ideas?" whispered Mabel.

"Maybe we could just wait until he leaves." whispered Dipper back.

The footsteps grew steadily louder, and it became steadily apparent that they sounded rather sloppy, as it somebody was stepping through pudding.

Suddenly, the closet door was flung open, and a large man made out of gelatin, wearing clothes made of taffy, and sporting a beard made of gummi worms glared at the kids.

"Ah hah!" he said. "I've found you, perpetrators!" yelled the gelatin man.

"Are you gonna, uh, bake us in your oven?" said Dipper nervously.

"What?" said the gelatin man. "Of course not. I'm gonna give you two a walloping with my candy cane. Which is a cane that's a candy cane."

The gelatin man wander off, muttering "Now to just find where I left it."

Mabel grabbed Dipper's hand, yelling "Now's our chance, let's get the heck outta here!"

Mabel ran deeper into the closer, Dipper getting dragged along with her. She lowered her head and braced herself as she ran right into the wall. Due to her wearing a helmet, and the wall being made of gingerbread, she broke through the wall without much difficulty, and the twins fell out of the house and onto the hill which provided a fortunately soft landing on account of being made of brownie.

Dipper and Mabel quickly took off running in the general direction of their circus destination, not stopping to catch their breaths until they were sure they weren't being followed.

"Wow, that was a close one." said Dipper, stopping for a breather.

"Sure was." said Mabel. "But we didn't leave empty-handed."

Mabel plucked a few small objects from her hair, and presented them to Dipper, revealing them to be the pop-rocks found in the chocolate chest.

"Tah-dah! I stuck these in my hair right before we hid in the closet." said Mabel triumphantly. "Want any?"

"Eh, no thanks." said Dipper.

"Suit yourself." said Mabel with a shrug, tossing them into the air and catching them in her mouth. "Ooh, they really do pop in your mouth!" she giggled.

The twins continued to set off through the forest towards the circus. After a few minutes, though, Mabel seemed to be walking slower. She clutched her stomach in pain.

"Ugh, Dipper." she said. "I don't feel so good."

"It's probably just from all the candy you've been eating." said Dipper. "You'll be able to lie down when we get home."

"No, it's not just that." said Mabel, kneeling down and clutching her stomach more. She let out a weak whimper of pain and said "I... _REALLY_ don't feel well..."


	5. Chapter 5

Mabel lied down on the forest floor, one hand on her stomach as she breathed heavily, quietly muttering "Ow, ow, ow ow ow."

Dipper was quickly at his sister's side, frantically asking "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"It hurts." said Mabel, whimpered as she gripped her stomach again. "It h-hurts so much."

Dipper, while panicking mentally, struggled to appear calm for Mabel's sake. "C-could you tell me where it hurts?"

"Stomach." said Mabel. She let out a weak "Ow!" in between breaths.

Dipper quickly helped his sister to her feet. "W-well, we should try to get back home. They'll be able to help you there, a-and you'll be able to rest. Okay?"

Mabel slowly nodded and managed a very slight, very weak smile.

Dipper and Mabel continued making their way through the forest, Dipper keeping a tight grip on his sister's hand as she staggered along with him. She was still clearly in pain, letting out tired groans of agony.

"Ow, ow oww!" cried Mabel, one hand still gripping her stomach. "Dipper, what's happening to me?"

"I don't know." said Dipper, slowing down his walking. "You'll b-be fine, o-okay?" he said shakily.

Mabel managed to nod as they continued walking, significantly slower this time.

Soon, Mabel started breathing rapidly, crying "Dipper, it's getting worse! I don't think... I don't think I can keep going."

Mabel fell to the ground, tears leaking down her cheeks. "I wanna go home." she whimpered.

Dipper's thoughts were in a complete jumble. He had no idea how to relieve his sister of her suffering, because he had no idea what was causing it. It couldn't have been from the candy she ate, could it? An ordinary stomachache shouldn't be putting her in this much misery. Maybe she had appendicitis? Maybe the candy was cursed? He had no idea what to do, but he knew that the quicker they got back home, the quicker he could get her help. And if she wasn't able to continue on, he'd take her there himself.

Crouching down, he picked Mabel up by her arms and legs and lifted her up to his chest, finding it a bit harder than he was expecting.

"Dipper." said Mabel, looking like she was struggling to stay awake. "You don't have to do this..."

" _No_." said Dipper, gently but firmly, "I'm getting you home even if it kills me. I promise, you'll be okay."

"Dipper..." said Mabel, but she was in too much pain to continue. She breathed in and out, but it seemed to hurt her to do so.

Dipper carried his sister through the woods, her hair and cape dragging along on the ground. He didn't expect that he'd be strong enough to carry her at all, but sometimes he ever surprised himself. Though, he couldn't help but notice that it felt like Mabel was getting heaver with time. He tried to convince himself that this was just a result of him getting tired, and her condition, whatever it was, wasn't getting steadily worse.

But Mabel certainly wasn't looking any better. She was still clearly in pain, and she was now too tired to even scream anymore, only managing to whimper "Ow, ow, _ow, ow ow."_ as tears poured down her cheeks.

Dipper was growing steadily more terrified, but continued carrying her towards home. Part of him was sure that he should try to keep her awake, because if she fell asleep she may never wake up. Another part wanted him to let her asleep, because at least then she'd be having pleasant, happy dreams instead of the complete misery she was in while she was awake. He had no idea what to do, and every decision he had to think about made him more and more anxious.

"Dipper." she said quietly her skin starting to get paler. "I-I think it's spreading. It's.. it's not just my stomach anymore. Now it's my chest, and my guts, and my heart, and my shoulders, and a bunch of other places."

"Please, just..." Dipper decided to make a decision on the matter of whether or not he should let Mabel get some rest. "J-just close y-your eyes." he said, trying to be reassuring but speaking far too shakily to pull it off.

"O...okay, I'll try." said Mabel. "But, it hurts so much..." said Mabel.

"I know." sighed Dipper. "But just try to close your eyes, please. And when you wake up, you'll be home, safe and feeling better in no time."

Mabel closed her eyes, and Dipper continued through the forest. He managed to cover some distance, but it became increasingly clear that somehow, his sister really was getting heavier in his hands. Eventually, she was just too heavy for him to lift, and he had to set her, as gently as possible, in a bed of grass as he caught his breath.

"Mabel, I'm sorry." he said. "But I just can't keep going like this. I'll find another way to get you home, I promise."

Mabel's eyes slowly opened, and Dipper quickly saw that her pupils had turned a pale grey.

"Dipper..." she said, still clearly in agony but sounding calmer than she was before. "It's alright... It's not your fault... you did your best. But I think... I don't think I'm gonna make it."

"What?!" cried Dipper, his terror abundantly clear. "No, no, no, no! Please, Mabel, don't think like that! I-I'm gonna make sure you live through this, even if it's the last thing I do!"

"Dipper, it's fine." said Mabel, breathing heavily as she managed to sit up, though it clearly took all the strength she had left. "I think... my time's almost up. I just have a couple... things to say."

Dipper took a deep breath and sighed. He had no idea how to help Mabel, but the least he could do was try to comfort her as much as he could no matter what happened. "I'm all ears." he said as he crouched down towards her and forced a very small smile.

"I'm..." Mabel gripped her abdomen and let out a groan of pain before continuing. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault... it's because of me we're out here."

More tears poured from Mabel eyes as she said "If I hadn't been such a careless moron and taken your stuff without asking what it was, we wouldn't be out here. I'm so, _so,_ sorry."

"Mabel, it's okay." said Dipper, eyes welling up as he placed a hand on his sister's back. "It was just a mistake."

"Mas... Dipper." said Mabel. "I want, I want you to leave me here and go home yourself."

"No! I'm not gonna abandon you, no matter what!" exclaimed Dipper desperately. "P-please, just stay with me, you're gonna be okay!"

"I'm done for, Dipper." said Mabel, the slightest bit of sternness in her tone. "I'm j-just gonna slow you down. Either you get... get back home or neither of us will."

Mabel gritted her teeth and let out another groan of agony. Her skin was getting paler by the second and her movements were getting slower and stiffer. Still, she managed a pained, tired smile.

"You'll b-be... f-fine." she said. "You can j-just find another... act."

Her smile grew ever so slightly and said "At least my last performance was a great one..."

"Mabel, please." said Dipper, feelings of dread in his chest. "Please, j-just, try to get some sleep. No matter what happens, you'll wake up in a better place."

Mabel nodded, though she did so very slowly, and very slowly creaked her eyelids shut.

Dipper gave his sister the biggest hug he could manage, not knowing if he'd ever be able to do so again. That's when he noticed that her skin seemed to be getting stiffer. He took a look at Mabel and saw that her skin wasn't turning pale. it was turning grey.

She was turning to stone.

Dipper stepped back. Mabel's skin gradually turned from stiff and grey to pure rock over the course of a few seconds. This was soon followed by her hair, then her clothing. A statue of Mabel was now right in front of him, and all Dipper could do was stare in shock. He couldn't even scream, or cry, and his thoughts were no longer in a jumble so much as a complete blank.

He was in such a state of shock that he didn't even notice at first when the statue's eyes opened.

"Hey, Dipper!" said the statue form of Mabel. "It doesn't hurt any more!"

Mabel, despite being made of stone, was apparently able to move, as she stood to her feet and triumphantly declared "I'm gonna be okay! I'm gonna be o-"

Mabel stopped when she noticed that Dipper was still in too much shock to say anything. Her expression turned into one of confusion as she asked "Uh, why are you looking at me like that?"


	6. Chapter 6

The statue form of Mabel blinked in confusion at Dipper.

"Mabel, you're... you're.. y-you're.." Dipper stammered out.

"What am I?" asked Mabel. Suddenly, her eyes went wide open.

"Oh gosh, I'm a ghost, aren't I?!" yelled Mabel. "That's the reason it stopped hurting, isn't it?"

Dipper was still speechless.

"Oh gosh, that bellyache killed me, didn't it?" said Mabel started to pace around. "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm totally dead! That's why I can't feel anything."

Mabel sat down on the ground, clutching her head.

"If I'm dead, then I'll never get to be a human cannonball again." said Mabel, choking back a sob. "I'm gonna have to be a ghost show, or something, and I'm never gonna grow up, and I'm never gonna-"

"Mabel, you're not dead." Dipper finally managed to say.

"Well what's the point of not being dead if I'm a ghost?!" cried Mabel. She smacked her head with both hands, and her eyes widened again when she heard the dull thunk sound it made.

Mabel quickly lumbered over to the nearest river and looked in. When she saw her reflection, she yelled "What happened to me?!"

Dipper immediately ran up to his sister and hugged her as well as he could, her being a living statue and all. It took a few seconds for Mabel to even realize she was being hugged.

"Mabel, I'm so glad you're alive!" cried Dipper. He would have said "okay" instead of "alive", but he realized that probably wasn't the right term for the situation. "I-I was was really scared that I'd lost you!"

"Uh, bro-bro?" said Mabel. "Thanks for that, but I'm still kinda wondering what happened to me."

Dipper released from the hug and sighed sadly as he looked up and down at his twin. "I, uh, think you've been turned into stone."

Mabel looked at her hands, then clapped them together. It made a thunk noise. Then she looked back at her reflection in the river. Her eyes widened, then she stepped backwards, looked all over herself. She sat back down on the ground. She sighed and looked down sadly.

"So I am." she said. "Guess this is my life now."

Mabel took another look at her hands and said "We're probably gonna need a lot more gunpowder to fire me out of the cannon. If I don't break apart when I land, of course."

She smiled a bit and said "Maybe I could be part of a freak show. Mabel the Human Statue. How's that sound?"

Dipper put a hand on Mabel's shoulder and said "Hey, Mabel, I don't really know what exactly happened, or why you're like this, but I'm sure there's some way to break the curse. Or hex. Or maybe a spell? I don't know, but we're gonna cure you."

Mabel said "Okay, I guess we can give it a shot."

Mabel slowly stood up before saying "Did I just a human cannonball joke?"

Dipper shrugged.

"Eh, maybe I did." said Mabel. "So, where should we head first?"

"Let's try going back to the circus. I don't think Stan has any experience with this kinda thing, but maybe he could find a way to help you."

Mabel nodded and gave a thumbs up.

With that, the twins continued in the same direction they were heading before, Mabel going a little slower this time due to adjusting to her new form. She had bumped her head on quite a few branches, but she barely seemed to react to it.

"So, uh, what's being a statue like?" asked Dipper awkwardly.

"It's weird." said Mabel. "It's like, I can walk around and stuff, but I can't feel anything. Like, anything at all. If I close my eyes, I can't even tell if I'm standing up or sitting down."

"O-oh." said Dipper. "Sorry to hear that, it's gotta be pretty unpleasant."

"Well, maybe it's better I can't feel anything." said Mabel. "Considering how it felt... before that."

She shuddered a bit and said "I'm never eating candy again."

"Hey, you don't need to quit eating candy." said Dipper, as they continued walking through the woods. "It probably wasn't all the candy that did this to you. It was probably those pop rocks."

"Pop rocks are candy, Dipper." said Mabel, walking through a sharp-thorned shrub and not seemingly not even noticing.

"I know they are." said Dipper, sighing a bit. "But I'm saying that-"

Their conversation was halted when they both caught the sound of a series of rocky thunks in the distance. They decided to follow it. Soon, they came across what appeared to be two humanoid boulders pacing back and forth. Hiding behind a tree, The twins watched the two rock creatures.

"See any sign of it?" said the bigger one.

"Nah, not yet." said the smaller one. "But it's gotta be around here somewhere. He can't have gone far, 'specially not with all the thunking he makes when he walks."

As the two rock people continued searching for something, Dipper and Mabel whispered to each other from behind the tree.

"Alright, I have a plan." said Mabel.

"I can kinda guess what it is," said Dipper, "and I don't think it's such a good idea to-"

"I'm gonna walk up to these rocky gentlemen, and I'm gonna ask them for directions back to the circus." said Mabel. "They'll have to trust me. I'm a rock monster, and they're rock monsters."

"Mabel, this plan has a lot of flaws in it." said Dipper.

"It'll be fine." said Mabel. "Now, just wait here for now. I don't know if they'll listen to a human."

Before Dipper could say anything to stop her, Mabel stepped out from behind the tree and confidentially approached the rock people. Dipper whispered "Be careful." as he watched from behind the old pine tree.


End file.
